As high-spirited Americans and the Boston Marathon crowds were blindsided by surreal pressure cooker bombs, and even as we reel from the senseless deaths and the plight of heroic runners-turned-victims, the key questions are: Why do these tragedies keep recurring and what, if anything, can we — the people and the U.S. government — do about it?

Let’s start with the strange thing: two young Chechens and the Boston Marathon. What’s the connection? It’s not immigration, whatever some in Congress are trying to say, and it’s not Islam. It’s being from an occupied country.

Since 1980, Robert Pape, the preeminent researcher on this kind of terrorism from the University of Chicago, has tracked the motivations and patterns of Tamil, Chechen and Middle Eastern suicide bombers puts his finger on the pulse of this issue. Pape is clear: “The problem is not Islam but lengthy military occupations.” Russia has occupied Chechnya for more than 100 years, and in the 1930s, Stalin expelled the entire Chechen people to Central Asia for three decades. Osama bin Laden’s tipping point against the U.S. was American military bases in Saudi Arabia. Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria is an appalling, violent group — but they only turned against foreigners when French troops arrived in their region.

Pape’s solution is also crystal clear: decrease suicide bombings not by focusing on Islamic extremism but by terminating foreign occupation fast. “Invasions and occupations, new democratic governments backed by the military as in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan” are the U.S.’s preferred course of action he argues, despite strong evidence that ” suicide terrorism is not prompted by Islamic fundamentalism” and points out that “despite some military success, suicide terrorism has continued.”

Well, there is not much Americans can do about the Russian occupation of Chechnya — just as Spaniards who suffered from suicide attacks had little control over America’s policies in Iraq. But Americans as a whole can learn the lesson: Military occupations are not an effective response to the growth of fundamentalist violence — they weren’t for India in Sri Lanka and they haven’t been for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

But Muslims have a particular message to learn: to have the courage of their true faith.

Enough, enough, enough, I say, with the CYA–Cover Your A**–strategy in our Muslim communities. I would like our community to take responsibility for how it is that we–yes, we–have allowed an interpretation of Islam to prevail in this world that turns this boy of innocence into a bomber and murderer.

Nomani is right on! I too wonder how we Muslim moderates stand by in good conscience on the sidelines of life at this critical juncture in America and fail to defend the straight path of Islam which has guided us for centuries.

And why did these two young men from Chechnya go so astray in America? Not by going to the mosque; they actually rejected what they were taught there. While Rep. Peter King of New York believes that mosques are often the wellspring of radicalism in the U.S., calling for increased “surveillance of Islamic communities” because, “The new threat is from within.” Contrast this with Suhaib Webb and Scott Korb, whose research indicates that young people with a strong grounding in the American Muslim mainstream in fact do not get radicalized. Radicalization happens, they say, online and sometimes abroad, among the isolated and disaffected. Tamerlane Tsarnaev’s YouTube page does not highlight any scholars, imams or institutions, and at a Friday service when the imam praised Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, he shouted that the imam was a “nonbeliever.”

The New York Times this week reported that in Chechnya itself the battle is between the imams in the mosques, who practice moderate Sufi Islam, and imported extreme Salafists who have obtained a foothold because of the Russian occupation.

Webb and Korb point out that the American Muslim devotional or educational institutions focused on the arts, community service and interfaith activities have a mediating influence. They take to heart Islam’s mandate to show mercy, just as Judaism embraces law and Christianity promotes love.

And finally, I would say that the Boston bombing was a huge tragedy, but there could be a silver lining if we Muslims, immigrants and native borne alike, understand that Islam is a simple faith, with a few key edicts, and a porous potential to absorb new memes and contour itself in the best of ways to the culture in which it resides. In America, Islam is a frontier faith — open to new norms which enable it to make a positive contribution to the country in which it resides. It is up to us Muslims to make that happen, as Asra Nomani so articulately suggested in her blog “How American Muslims can respond to Boston,” even as we reclaim true, tolerant and progressive Islam in the United States of America.

Khadijah’s daughters is a blog by Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin, board president of Invest in Muslim Women, a non-profit project of the Global Fund for Women. Invest in Muslim Women focuses on the economic empowerment of Muslim women, justice and peace. The blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife and the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=13450“Women are half the population and they raise the other half on their lap”http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=871
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=871#respondFri, 18 Jan 2013 09:59:40 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=871Date: Nov 2011

This is one of my cherished quotes from the Muslim Women Leaders on the Frontlines of Change, a fabulous conference in Istanbul a couple of weeks ago and which I was fortunate to attend. 180 Muslim women leaders, activists, scholars and NGO leaders from 45 countries congregated. We immersed ourselves in understanding the state, status and potential of Muslim women as change agents in their local communities around the world. The conference was organized by the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) by Daisy Khan for the Women’s Islamic Initiative for Spirituality and Equality (WISE). Kudos to Daisy for this timely and stimulating conference.

Front and center: Muslim women who participated on the frontiers of the Arab revolutions face challenges – both intense and palpable. Women engaged in their country’s revolutions with heart, head and soul – often risking their lives. But now some women are disconcerted. They are uncertain about their place at the new head table. The key question is: Will women’s’ contributions to the revolution be acknowledged? Will women be given meaningful positions and power as the old dictatorships collapse?

Three Egyptian activists– conspicuous by their absence – were denied exit by their government. Why? What’s brewing in Egypt that we are not supposed to be privy to? What is the military government afraid of?

Amel Azzouz, Member of the Women’s Office of Ennadha, the Islamic Party in Tunisia, has better news. “Women transformed their suffering into effective activism and positive political action. At least 50 new women’s organizations were created and the revolution liberated the creativity of women.” Azzouz describes a key turning point: “We went from viewing women from an Islamic perspective as a wife, representing good and preventing evil to women having parity with men.”

In Libya, “The revolution was led by women. Women were at the forefront and they worked hard. But finally, women were pushed aside, silenced and men took control,” says Dr. Laila Bugaighis, a passionate and articulate ob-gyn. Breaking into sobs, she said, “Unarmed, our men, the rebels pinned down armed loyalists with their bare bodies. They risked their lives for their female brethren and enabled us to get to the border unharmed and in time to escape to freedom.” Specifically, she continued: “Libyan women activists were alert to the Islamists alarm, calling to restrict women to the home front. They have proposed legislation curtailing the rights of a woman to run for president.” Dr Bugaighis urged her audience to make sure that Libyan women’s rights, constitutional rights and leadership access to key roles in media and government are assured.

Afra Jalabi, a young woman of Syrian origin now based in Toronto, spoke about her two close friends, brothers ages 27 and 25 who participated in the Syrian revolution. Afra explained the brothers’ commitment to a peaceful, non-violent revolution even as death tolls were escalating while being wildly misrepresented. The official toll was understated at 3,000, while in reality the number of dead is somewhere between ten and thirteen thousand. The anguished Afra explained how the younger brother, her dear friend was killed, and she said, “ He was not only courageous but ever so optimistic.” Known for his lightness of being, Afra told the horrifying truth: “He was tortured, his organs and throat were removed, and his sexual organs cut off.” Afra is young, has wisdom beyond her years, and raised the bar for her audience: “We chose non-violence not out of weakness but out of belief and appreciation of its values. The movement has a great moral responsibility and yes, we can do it, we can disarm the world.” She touched every heart in the room as she ended with a quote from the Dalai Lama: “It is our home. And it can fit us all.” Afra wants to honor the death of her friend and his commitment to non-violence. She said to me after the session, “He was a true Gandhian.” I immediately offered to connect Afra with my Gandhian friend, Elaben Bhatt, founder of SEWA, a labor union of women workers in the informal sector and a protégé of Mahatma Gandhi in Ahmedabad, India. This way Afra can take her friends’ struggle for freedom and democracy to the next level.

Nimah Nawaab, author of a book, “The Unfurling” is a young Saudi poet, activist and photographer. She participated on the panel on the Arab revolutions and said: “The untapped voices of youth and women need to rise.” She refreshed us on the recent decree passed by Saudi Arabia’s king Abdullah, granting women voting rights – which will not be enacted for three years. “Given a right, there’s hope, but what’s the reality?” asks Nawaab as she explains further: “There is a lot of resistance to having equality between men and women in Saudi Arabia.” Nawaab poses a provocative question about the Arab Spring, which, she explains, is a term coined by the Western media: “Is there another name that might be more befitting- an Arab fall, an Arab winter or maybe something altogether different?”

Tunisia’s elections offer a ray of hope given the country’s proximity to Europe. Its long traditions of women’s rights and a vibrant NGO sector are a plus. At first blush the Ennadha party is focused on key priorities for nation building: economic development, equal opportunity for women, internal security and freedom of choice in dress, such as the headscarf, rather than tackling religious issues. It is a special moment in the history of Tunisia and may all be granted equality – but only time will tell how the Tunisian experiment in democracy evolves.

Stay tuned for more voices of Muslim women scholars, social and business entrepreneurs, NGO leaders and activists who challenge the old order and aspire to an equitable new society – with parity between men and women, democracy, religious freedom and equity for people of all faiths. If my wish were granted, Muslim women would be the winners as agents of change, peacemakers and moral guardians of our families, communities and countries.

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=8710Park51- The Center/Mosque at Ground Zero is an American Issuehttp://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=751
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=751#respondWed, 16 Jan 2013 12:36:10 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=751

Date: Sept 2010

9/11/01 — a terrorist attack by al Qaeda kills 3,000 people in New York. Families reel from the loss of loved ones, trying to make sense of this senseless tragedy. 9/11 reshaped the world, resculpting our national and global psyches. But it’s not finished. Nine years later, people heatedly contest building a community center/mosque in a neighborhood that has strip clubs, but is also near Ground Zero. What’s this all about?

Post-9/11, friends and acquaintances zeroed in on my Muslim identity. I felt like I was on the hot seat explaining Islam, as I was earlier in my career, defending reproductive rights while working at Planned Parenthood in San Francisco. Early on, the FAQ’s were basic: Why are Muslim women repressed? Why is Islam so militant?

A couple years later, shock gave way to a new curiosity about Islam and my friends were devouring books to understand the faith better. People were striving to understand each other, looking at the inter-faith and cross cultural issues, searching for commonalities even as we lived side by side, regaining our old rhythms.

But today it seems to me that Muslims in the US are suspect, profiled and harassed. Arsalan Iftikar, writer and commentator, argues that islamophobia has burgeoned and become the accepted form of racism in America. Pastor Terry Jones planned a bonfire of Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11 in Florida. A mock pig is flung into a mosque in Madera, California, and a mosque is burned in Tennessee. These battles engage me at home. I see myself evolving into a new kind of Muslim, helping to shape an American Islam imbued with democratic values, constitutional rights, women’s rights and religious tolerance, a role model for the world.

My first hero is my nephew Eboo Patel, executive director of the Inter-faith Youth Core, a member of President Obama’s council on faith-based partnerships, who provides context for the community center/mosque in Lower Manhattan: The core argument emerging from the anti-mosque protests is that Muslims are not and can never be full Americans. Eboo draws on Rosa Parks: Freedom does not mean you can sit on the bus here, but not there. And further, Muslims did not bomb the Twin Towers; evil terrorists did. This is not a Muslim issue; this is an American issue.

Second, to the ACLU for its indefatigable defense of constitutional rights and freedoms — even for alleged terrorists. That’s what keeps us from becoming like the terrorists.

Third, to Mayor Bloomberg for his heroic support of the community center/mosque at Park51, especially given his family’s Holocaust history.

Fourth, to my friend and heroine Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal and co-founder of the center/mosque, for her steadfast approach, her patience, and her ability to move slowly.On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, I am trying to understand why the community center/mosque at Park51 has become such a hot-button political issue. It is understandably a sensitive and emotional issue for families who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack and for some New Yorkers. But, it seems to be hitting a deeper emotional nerve with the broader American public. Is the center/mosque equated with the 9/11 attack and by extension with Bush’s costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, high unemployment, the housing, mortgage and economic debacle? Is the community center/mosque conflated with Muslims and Islam in America so that all Muslims in America are now being held responsible for this terrorist act? Or is this issue being used to displace anxiety about the unraveling of the American dream — prosperity and security — that this country enjoyed for 50 years with few hiccups?

In December 2009, when Fox TV’s Laura Ingraham first interviewed Daisy Khan, Ingraham blessed the benign concept: I can’t imagine anyone could object to this idea. Yet, Park51 has become a political football. Rick Lazio seized the issue for his governor’s race in New York, Palin and Gingrich are using it to whip up right-wing Republicans. The Tea Party has embraced it. The essence of this anti-Muslim frenzy is expressed by Rush Limbaugh who proclaims that our president is, Imam Hussein Obama — probably the best anti-American president we’ve ever had.

Almost a decade after 9/11 we are left with a toxic fire storm — ignited by terrorism, fueled by two Bush wars, a deep recession — even as a new world economy emerges. The US must become part of a multi-polar world economy, sharing the stage with Brazil, Russia, Turkey, India and China. Inclusion of immigrants, innovation and tolerance will be key to future prosperity.

Why would we want to launch a clash of civilizations just as we become inextricably bound together as an interdependent world?

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist

Last Saturday afternoon, some Jewish friends who are fans of the Muslim Women’s Fund came for tea at our home. They were eager to discuss the front page news story in the NYT on the Mosque at Ground Zero which has elicited high intensity emotions, passions and political machinations.

The concept for Park51, the interfaith community center and mosque near ground zero was inspired by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the YMCA’s in New York. But talking with my friends, I’m reminded that not everyone knows that historically in Islam markets, mosques and public squares converged to serve the community – whereas churches and temples are in their own, separate, sacred precincts – away from the bazaars. We really don’t know each other well enough.

You see this in Istanbul where the souk adjoins the Blue Mosque. Or in Jerusalem, where Muslim merchants renting space at the edge of the Mosque of Omar sell – not Muslim prayer beads (tasbih in Urdu) but Christian ones (rosaries) — because ten yards down is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The board of the new interfaith center will be composed of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders and the center’s goal is to build bridges between faiths. Further, this unique interfaith center/mosque will promote a pioneering model of moderate American Islam – an anti-dote to Saudi Wahabism and Salifism, which are fueled by America’s oil dependence. The center/mosque was approved by the local community board (23-O) and NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission (9-0) unanimously.

As I followed the issue, I was struck by how the word mosque became the dominant conflict driven media frame of the story and how interfaith bridge building and creating a space for moderate Islam receded into the background.

The interfaith center/mosque hit a nerve emotionally and understandably. As my friends who came to tea said, they supported the idea of the center but at another location. They empathized with people’s emotions, however irrational, and believe that they need to be respected. And I would add especially if they are families, including Muslims, who have lost loved ones at ground zero – these are some of one’s worst nightmares which rank with losses in wars, earthquakes and famines.

The mosque debate became an exploitable political torch for Gingrich, Palin and Lazio. But it also became a values test for Mayor Bloomberg, Thomas Friedman and the NYT editorial board.

And finally my friend Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Rauf, (a Sufi who conceptualized the interfaith center/mosque), Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) and a founding board member of the Muslim Women’s Fund, has stayed the slalom course on the center/mosque hearings mindfully. When I asked for her take away last night, she said: This is a victory for America. It affirms the preservation of religious freedom and supports faith communities.

Shahnaz Chinoy Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women. She was the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist.

]]>http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?feed=rss2&p=9800“Enemies of Diversity are the Enemies of this Great Nation.”http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=723
http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=723#respondWed, 16 Jan 2013 09:42:49 +0000http://investinmuslimwomen.org/?p=723

The crime was probably based on mistaken identities in the mind of the killer because Sikhs (some of whom wear turbans like Osama Bin Laden) are often confused with Muslims.

First, my condolences and prayers to the families who lost their loved ones in Milwaukee, to a senseless tragedy in the Sikh temple.

22 year old Jasbeen Kaur, the niece of the temple priest, Prakash Singh, an innocent victim of this tragedy says when asked about a hate crime, “I don’t know what it means.”

What’s this shooting all about?
Vijay Prashad, Chair of South Asian History at Trinity College dissects the complexities: “The attack on Sikhs is not a mistaken attack.” Rather, “they are seen as part of a community of outsiders who are as Patrick Buchanan puts it in States of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, ‘a fifth column inside the belly of the beast…. Should America lose her ethnic-cultural core and become a nation of nations, America will not survive.’ ” http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/06/the-sense-of-white-supremacy/

Though Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin graciously attended the temple services for the victims of this tragedy in Milwaukee, Prashad cautions: “Governor Scott Walker is not far from all this, being a fan of the Arizona anti-human legislation.”The temple tragedy is uniquely sad since Sikhs have pro-actively educated Americans about their faith and philosophy since 9/11. I was struck by their grit, spirit, and dignity as Sikh temple leaders re-opened their doors in just five days to serve their community – helping them grieve and heal – even as they rise above the persecution.

“Divided We Fall”http://www.valariekaur.com/2012/08/the-washington-post-u-s-military-open-your-doors-to-sikhs/ is a feature documentary on 9/11 racism which was made by Valarie Kaur, a third generation Sikh. A legal advocate who clerked for the Senate Judiciary Committee and led a high profile campaign against racial profiling, Kaur explains: “We were Americans; we wanted to claim our place as Americans.” She educates the public about faith and values, expressing solidarity with her brethren among Muslim and Arab-Americans.

Major Kamaljeet Singh Kalsi who received the Bronze star for his service in Afghanistan says: “It is important for us to understand one another as people.”

“The attack by Page was definitely a hate crime,” says Eboo Patel, president and founder of the Chicago based Interfaith Youth Core. A member of the President’s advisory Council on Inter-faith affairs, Patel offers a solution: “What you have to do is to spread the light of pluralism ……to ward off the darkness of prejudice.” Patel is the author of Sacred Ground , his recently released second book http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eboo-patel/sacred-ground_b_1764277.html (and in full disclosure, he is my nephew).

Shahnaz Taplin’s blog is inspired by Khadijah, Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Khadijah is the quintessential role model for Muslim women- the first convert to Islam, the first Muslim woman entrepreneur, a globalist and a feminist

NOTES
Facts and Expectations:
The FBI reports that 9/11/2001- 2009 bias crimes fell by 80% and then suddenly in 2010, the number leapt up by 50%. Why?